‘Here the hands heal & mind is without fear’

Surat: Even the huge threat of infection cannot stop many doctors and healthcare workers from keeping the ongoing battle against coronavirus strong.
Meet one of such frontline warriors, 64-year-old Dr Chandresh Jardosh, a general practitioner, whose efforts to provide succour to Covid patients does not end in the consultations in his clinic at Sagrampura, but also goes beyond to paying personal visits to elderly patients at their homes.
“I have been practising for the last 35 years and can’t sit at home fearing infection. This is the time when our services are of utmost importance and I am committed to serving those in need now. I visit the elderly patients who are unable to visit my clinic,” said Dr Jardosh, who is also the president of the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Gujarat chapter.
But his is not an isolated case. Not insensitive to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) guidelines on such senior doctors, nor unmindful of the risks, many other senior doctors above 60 years of age in the city are still battling the contagion their way.
Equipped with precautions including masks, sanitization kits, PPE kits among the other preventive paraphernalia, these elderly doctors also provide clinical consultation to Covid-19 positive patients under home isolation.
IMA guidelines state that doctors and healthcare staff above 60 years should avoid OPD services.
Dr Mansukh Gatiwala (69), a general practitioner, checks nearly 40 patients, mostly coming from the nearby slums, at his clinic situated at the old Bombay market near Sahara Darwaja. In the last two months, he quarantined himself at home twice after coming in contact with Covid-19 patients but is back to work.
“My clinic was open for patients, even when the plague struck the city in 1994. If you work with positivity and with utmost precautions, you can defeat all malaise, though my kin worries for my safety.,” said Gatiwala.
Another doctor, Dr Jayant Shah (68), has a clinic at the posh City Light area and also visits nearly three other elderly patients at their home everyday. “My patients are my God and I can’t leave them to fight on their own. A major chunk of my patients are above 50 years and have co-morbid conditions,” said Dr Shah.
Dr Bharat Joshi (69), told TOI, “I have patients who are visiting me for the last 40 years. If I close my clinic where will my patients go? More than medical advice, people need moral support to fight off the virus.”